A reservist colonel in the Israeli army
has resigned his commission in protest at his army's "immoral
conduct" in the occupied territories. In a searing open letter to
the army's chief of staff, Lt-Col Eitan Ronel, a veteran of 1973's Yom
Kippur War, the invasion of Lebanon, and the first Palestinian Intifada,
returned his officer's commission.

His resignation came even as five teenage
conscripts were yesterday sentenced to a year in prison each for
refusing to serve in the Israeli army "as long as it acts as an
army of occupation". Scores of reservists have refused to report
for duty for similar reasons, and many of them have been sentenced to
prison terms, but Lt-Col Ronel, 51, is believed to be the first Israeli
officer to resign his commission in protest.

In his letter to the chief of staff,
Lt-Col Ronel, who was released from active reserve duty two years ago,
wrote that for him, the final straw had been when Israeli soldiers
opened fire last week on unarmed protestors demonstrating against the
"separation fence" Israel is building in the West Bank. Among
the injured was an Israeli civilian, Gil Naamati, whose case provoked a
storm of controversy in Israel.

"A country in which the army
disperses demonstrations of its citizens with live gunfire is not a
democratic country," Lt-Col Ronel wrote. "An army that
educates its soldiers that such a crime is conceivable has lost all its
borders.

"I saw this deterioration, stage
after stage: the blind eye that was turned to the abuse of detainees in
violation of the army's orders; the blind eye that was turned to
soldiers' gunfire on unarmed Palestinian civilians; the blind eye that
was turned to the settlers' unlawful behaviour towards Palestinian
civilians; the oppression of the population; the roadblocks; the curfew;
the closure; the blind eye the army turned towards humiliation and
abuse; the searches and arrests; the use of live fire against children
and unarmed people."

Lt.-Col. Ronel continued: "Stage by
stage, the value of human life has diminished. Step after step, the
values on which we were raised-the purity of arms, the value of human
life, the dignity of human beings as being created in the image of
God-have become a scornful travesty. And now we have reached the next
stage: soldiers shoot at Israeli civilians in a demonstration, in
keeping with the regulations for opening fire...This is an educational,
ethical and moral failure.

"This is your failure," he told
the chief of staff, "[the failure] of the army commanders. If I had
any faith in you, I would say to you-clean out the stables, take
responsibility, resign. My faith in you is gone. You have failed. You
and your predecessors have corrupted my army, our army. I do not want to
be a part of such an army. You gave me the ranks, to you I return
them."

Lt-Col Ronel's decision will resonate
deeply in a country where military service is at the heart of society,
and achieving senior military rank is considered a great mark of
distinction. It comes after a group of reservists pilots, including a
highly decorated war hero, refused to fly any further missions to
assassinate Palestinian militants over the occupied territories, because
of the civilian casualties involved - which provoked a furore.

Though directed at the chief of staff,
Gen Moshe Ya'alon, Lt-Col Ronel's criticisms will also be seen as
criticisms of Ariel Sharon, under whose premiership most of the abuses
he refers to have taken place. Gen Ya'alon himself recently spoke out
against the government's military tactics in the occupied territories,
saying they were counter-productive and fostered Palestinian hatred of
Israel.

The Israeli army spokesman's office said
the army had not received Lt-Col Ronel's resignation letter yet, but
that military officials had seen it on the internet. "At issue is
an individual who is using his rank and position to voice a political
position and is trying to involve the army in politics," a
spokesman said.